Jacob Ostreicher, a New York businessman held in Bolivia since 2010, is back in the United States.
Two Jewish news websites, JP Updates and Algemeiner, reported that Ostreicher returned Dec. 15 to New York, although the circumstances of his departure from Bolivia are not clear.
Ostreicher, who had a flooring business in New York, invested money with a group involved in a rice-growing venture in Bolivia and was managing the business when he was arrested on suspicion of money laundering. He also was accused of doing business with drug traffickers.
However, in June, Bolivian authorities arrested 15 people — including government officials — on charges of engineering his arrest in hopes of extracting cash payment. Despite those charges, Bolivia did not release Ostreicher, a haredi Orthodox father of five, and his case drew the attention of leading lawmakers in Congress, including Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). — jta